The Soul-Bearing Secret
by Biyanabee
Summary: Chapter two. Raven struggles to deal with her growing crush on BeastBoy, it's so bad she just might explode! But who said crushes were fun? This is the place where I will be putting all of my one-shots but will stay labeled as complete. Suggestions for future one shots are welcome. BBRAE
1. Chapter 1

Garfield stared with a look of annoyance at the pile of clothes he had just taken off in exchange for a plain t-shirt and flannel pajama pants he found near his bed. Though, secretly he knew he couldn't blame her for not reacting the way he had hoped.

It started a week ago, during one of their lectures during his film study course. As Halloween was quickly approaching, his professor had been playing horror movies. The one they watched that day had been particularly scary, as during it many of his peers were squealing or jumping in their seats in complete fear. However, not everyone was shaking, and the professor noticed this.

"Well, the film apparently succeeded to do its job," The professor smiled at everyone's reaction. "It seemed to do its job for everyone...except for you." The professor had pointed to a pale girl in a dark blue hoodie that sat next to Garfield. Everyone turned to look. "Why aren't you quivering in your shoes?"

"I don't get scared. It's pointless. Besides, it's just a movie." She said in a tedious tone. Garfield gawked at her.

"It's not just a movie! It's _Wicked Scary!_ " Garfield proclaimed.

"It's not that scary. Half the things that happened in the movie only happened because the characters decided to make retarded choices. Karma sucks." That was the last sentence that was said before the bell rang, signaling the end of class. Garfield wasn't surprised. The pale girl, whose name was Raven, seemed to be the Goth type. Always wearing dark clothing which goes with her pin straight black hair and usually is seen hanging out in the corner of the library or some depressing cafe, it'd probably make more sense believing she liked the movie.

Anyway, that wasn't the end of it. It was only the beginning, according to Garfield. She represented a challenge. Garfield's most important mission as of right now was to scare the living crap out of her.

He tried to do so for the past week. Her roommate- Kori Anders -willfully became an accomplice as she too has never seen Raven express emotion other than anger for when Kori invites her boyfriend over and they get a little too loud. Kori would text Raven's schedule so he could plan the perfect costume and the perfect time to come over and try to get her to scream. Obviously, it hasn't been working. Halloween was now only three days away and so far, Garfield is getting nowhere, so he decides to step his game up.

The next day, he takes Kori out for breakfast.

"I honestly don't know if she is the afraid of anything," Kori says groggily. Going out to eat at IHOP at seven in the morning wasn't part of her schedule, as she only was able to throw on a light pink jacket over her pajama tank to match her pink sweatpants and flip flops she had hastily stumbled into before Garfield pulled her out the door. She ran her fingers through her messy red hair for the seventh time to keep it out of her face. "Raven has never shown any indication."

"Everyone is afraid of something," Garfield said thoughtfully. After a gap of silence between them, the only sound coming from Kori eating the breakfast Garfield offered to pay for, Garfield dropped his unruly blonde head on the wooden table.

"I've been a clown, a polar bear, even that chick from the grudge, and each time she just raised her eyebrow and shut the door in my face."

"How were you able to be the girl from the grudge?"

"It was very difficult, let's just say." Another gap of silence. Kori nudged Garfield's head and smiled down at him when he glanced up at her from his side.

"Is it the possible you could perhaps scare her in a more progressive way? Like maybe do the mind-messing for a little?" Kori suggested lightly. Garfield picked his head up from off the table.

"I'm listening."

"I was suggesting more of a haunting type thing. Like move some of her stuff around our dorm, or maybe wake her up by opening doors and the like, and if she goes up to investigate, the nobody is there." Kori opened her eyes wide and wiggled her fingers for emphasis.

"I can give you my spare key, as long as you give it back. May I also suggest scaring her on the night of Halloween? I will be with my boyfriend, and she is staying in. All by herself." Kori snickered as she slid the spare key across the table into Garfield's hands.

Kori's idea was perfect. As soon as they got back from IHOP, Garfield followed Kori inside her dorm, now with the knowledge that Raven usually left early in the morning and often did not return until mid-day, he got started on his intentions immediately.

He took one Raven's coffee mug that had been placed neatly next to a kettle on the stove and placed it on a windowsill. He then sauntered into Raven's room, took a book from the organized bookcase, and placed it between the mattresses of her huge bed. After that, he went into Raven's closet, snatched one of her many blue hoodies, and put it on the glass table located in the living room. Satisfied with himself, he left Kori's and Raven's dorm for that day.

Kori had reported that Raven has been her usual self, despite second-guessing herself a little more often than normal. It was now afternoon the next day and Garfield visited their room once again that morning, this time moving her iPod in one of the living room couch cushions from where it rested on her desk, her school books into the corner of her closet instead of the very top of the bookcase, and her small, hand-held mirror underneath the TV stand.

On the morning of Halloween, Garfield had snuck into Raven and Kori's dorm room once again, of course with Kori's permission. Garfield had checked earlier that morning if Raven was in the school library, to which of course she was. Kori had left to the shopping mall and was planning to spend the day and night at her boyfriend's. Figuring that Raven would not be back for a couple hours, he got comfortable. His plan for the day was to hang out in Kori's room, knowing Raven wouldn't go in there, and promptly mess with Raven the entire day. He wasn't sure just how he was going to pull it off, but decided that he best came up with plans and the like when in the heat of the moment, and to just wing it.

However, he did come prepared. He had brought his charger, a tablet and his phone, snacks and drinks, and of course his costume he spent all night working on. Garfield took three more of Raven's things and put them in odd places around the suite. A couple hours after he set up camp in Kori's bedroom, Raven had come back from the library.

When she had first arrived, Garfield spent a whole hour hiding underneath Kori's bed, afraid to make a sound, any indicator that might give Raven a reason to search Kori's bedroom. However, he soon learned to relax and resorted to watching Netflix on his tablet using his earphones. The few times he heard Raven leave the dorm, most likely to use the bathroom at the end of the hallway, he moved something else that she was currently using. For example, the mug she was drinking was moved back next to her kettle, then he went back into Kori's room.

It was a few hours into his mission he realized he hadn't thought it through. He had to go to the bathroom. He did consider climbing out of Kori's window and scaling the building to the student balcony, but concluded he'd look like a fool and it was too much work anyway, so the next time Raven left to go get something from the vending machines, he ran to the bathroom and speedo-pissed. Since it was getting late, he decided to begin his act.

He put on his costume- the monster from Wicked Scary- and hid in the bottom cabinets underneath the kitchen sink. A space he could barely fit in, but if he was quiet enough, he could pull it off. When Raven returned from wherever she got her snack and was in the middle of consuming it, he stuck his hand out from the cabinet and reached up towards the counter, trying to subtly look for the wooden block that held all of the knives. When he came into contact with it, he pushed it over the kitchen counter and coiled quickly back into the cabinet as the knives and the wooden block fell onto the carpet floor.

He swore he could feel Raven's alarm and curiosity peak at the sudden noise. His heart thumped with increasing intensity as he listened to Raven's careful footsteps approach the mess. He heard her pick up the knives and set them back into the wooden block and onto the kitchen counter. His breathing labored carefully because he could picture Raven staring into the kitchen once in a while uneasily, trying to make somewhat of a rational reason to what just happened. If she wasn't aware of her surroundings before, she certainly was now. She had turned up the TV, probably to ease her paranoia. Garfield carefully climbed out of the cabinet and crawled to the edge of the kitchen to peek into the living room. Luckily there was a couch facing away from the kitchen, which was the couch she was sitting on. There was another couch near her bedroom door. He scurried over as quickly as he could and held his breath for a second to see if she noticed any movement. When he concluded that she hadn't, he sat upon his knees and the palms of his hands, leaning towards Raven's slightly open bedroom door. With one swipe of his hand, he slammed it shut and once again, scooted back towards the other end of the couch, awaiting Raven's reaction.

He heard her jump and catch her breath. He knew her eyes were burning into her bedroom door, and all around her. She got up off from the couch and started fumbling with her backpack. He peeked from from around the couch. Raven had put her hair up into a bun and was slipping these metal rings onto her fingers. Sensing what was to come, Garfield decided to go through his final phase for the prank before things got too out of control and quietly stepped up behind her as she swiftly walked towards the kitchen, hand reaching for one of the knives in the wooden block, her tea mug in the other.

It all happened so fast really. Garfield ran up to her and yanked at her shoulder, effectively moving her away from the kitchen and back towards the living room and screamed in her face through the Wicked Scary mask. Raven responded by screaming bloody murder, and because of the sudden scare she had endured, tripped over herself and fell into the glass table in the living room, breaking it and all the while accidentally cutting herself up with the glass shards. It was then Garfield realized what he had done.

As he was in the process of taking off his mask and profusely apologizing, Raven threw her tea mug which hit him on the front of his forehead and also spilled her hot tea all over his neck and chest, to which he responded by screaming and promptly stripping off his clothes. You could imagine what it looked like to their fellow floor-mates who were curious of the noise and went to investigate and found some guy shirtless who was panicking and some girl laying very stiffly in a bed of glass shards who was screaming a string of insults and crying while doing it.

Needless to say, Garfield felt horrible.

So horrible in fact, he spent the entirety of his last paycheck on Raven once he got out of the hospital.

Raven still hadn't forgave him. When they were being transported to the local hospital via ambulance, Garfield could recall how Raven glared daggers outside the window and refused to make eye contact or talk to him, even when the EMT's were yelling at him to lay down so they could treat his burn wounds while he was trying very hard to make an effort to get Raven to look at him. When they were laying down side by side in their hospital room, Raven even continued to glare at the TV instead of him, all the while passive-aggressively rubbing her injured arm, which she had apparently broken because she had slammed her elbow into the floor pretty hard when she fell into the glass table. Or the time she glared at her band-aids from all the cut wounds. She wouldn't even acknowledge him.

Since his wounds were minor, he was released the night he got to the hospital. The next morning he went straight to Kori's dorm and asked if she had been released yet, to which Kori replied she would not be released until the next day. Kori also asked him to return the key she gave him and told him that maybe it was best if he didn't come back for a while. Completely ignoring that, Garfield begged Kori to help him out.

"What does she like? Tell me something she wants for Christmas or her birthday or something."

"Garfield, I do not think Raven is the type of girl you take out shopping and is willing to forget after you have wronged her," Kori admitted sadly. "Perhaps a sincere apology?"

"I already tried that and she won't even look at me."

"Well you could do the trying again. I'm sure she has done the cooling down, it has been a few hours and she is a reasonable person, even if she is mad at you."

So Garfield went back to the hospital. The nurses regarded him coldly, they probably heard what had happened. After a fee minutes of begging, they finally let him inside Raven's room.

"You have ten minutes, unless she says otherwise." One nurse said hotly before letting him in. He stepped in with the mandatory crappy bouquet of flowers and set them on a table next to her bed. Raven stiffened and eyed the TV, once again refusing to maintain eye contact with him.

"Hey." He said awkwardly. She said nothing. He sat down in the chair next to her.

"...I'm really sorry." Raven rolled her eyes and looked at him for the first time since their last unfortunate encounter.

"Sorry? That's all you got?" Raven scowled. Garfield frowned.

"Well, I was just getting started,"

"No you weren't."

"I'm sorry," He began, "I'm sorry that I acted like such a creep to you this entire week, and now that I'm looking back on it, it was really immature and lame. I shouldn't have scared you like that, and messed with your things to fool you, it was stupid and petty."

"That sounds way too genuine. It's like you planned it out or something."

"I don't know how else to apologize, but I just want you to know that I meant it, but I understand if you can't forgive."

"I never said that I didn't forgive you."

"So you do forgive me?"

"I also never said that either." Garfield slumped in his chair.

"At least you understand how creepy you were. In what world did you think hiding in my dorm all day with the intentions to scare me would be funny?"

"My intentions were meant to be innocent. I thought I was being clever or something."

"Never do it again."

"Noted." Garfield shifted uncomfortably. "...So..umm, do you have any idea what the hospital bill is going to be? I could look into my savings or-"

"You're not paying the hospital bill. I put my dad's insurance on it. All you should buy me is a new glass table."

"Already did. Also, because I felt so bad, I got you a gift card to Barnes and Nobles. It's inside your bouquet." Raven began to relax. If one were studying her closely, they would be able to note how her face returned to a normal expression and not so hard-looking.

"Thanks."

"No problem." They sat in silence for a while until Raven questioned why he was still there.

"Can you just say you forgive me? Please?"

"I forgive you. Partly because I can't take you seriously with that big, red bruise in the middle of your forehead." She allowed a gentle smile to pass over her features. Garfield would have usually blushed at this as his hand went to gently touch the aforementioned bruise. Instead, he felt a little better when she pointed it out, as it meant that Raven wasn't the only one to get hurt.

"Now I can finally sleep at night. Anyway, see you tomorrow. I'll be the first to sign your cast."

"You're the first to put me in the cast."

"Technically the nurses were."

"But you're the one who scared me." With that sentence, Garfield whipped around to face Raven again, as he was reaching for the door.

"So you admit it, that I scared you?" Raven paled at the question and scowled once again at the man.

"..Yes. You scared me." Garfield flashed a grin and stepped out of her room. He had obtained his goal. Not in the way he planned to, but he did it. Perhaps next time though, he'd try to get her to laugh more, because her smile is quite beautiful, he thought.


	2. The Soul-Bearing Secret

**The Soul-Bearing Secret**

The feelings were becoming unbearable.

It is often assumed that Raven supresses the feelings that often work against her favor like they were never there. However, since the haunted house incident, she has learned to, at the very least, acknowledge their existence. Besides, the emotions having to do with love are quite unable to ignore, and the online articles she has read in a futile attempt to gain advice on how to handle this ever-growing crush proved to her she was not alone.

The emotions began to eat away at her soul. It was all she could ever think about. _He_ was all she could think about. It was beyond maddening. He make her feel so giddy and happy but at the same time it was absolute torture and she felt helpless, out of control. The crush on her green teammate began sometime after they completed the mission they both were sent for. They completed it earlier than originally expected and thus decided to roam and explore Southern California as tourists, choosing to keep it a secret from Robin as they were sure if he found out he would send them both on another exhausting mission. It started when she began to ease around his presence while enjoying the extreme relaxation they both have been given, when she smiled and laughed more, more than sneered and glared at him. She declared it as officially having a crush on him when she'd catch herself way to often watching the way Garfield moved. Something as bland as going to the movie theaters turned into a let's-watch-Garfield-chew-his-popcorn fest because she began to think about his well -developed jawline, so different now that he was older at the fresh age of twenty and has finally finished off his awkward puberty-filled years.

After the acknowledgement of her crush on Garfield, Raven of course naturally resorted to the power of meditation. She wanted to rid herself of this feeling. Her days were filled with plans for meditation instead of the leisurely activities she wanted to have with her newfound free time, all to no avail. Even during meditation her mind would wonder to Garfield. Her emoticons were quaking with curiosity to get to know Garfield's personality more. Then, she began to busy herself as much as possible. She even considered telling Robin about their finished mission, and when she voiced this opinion to Beast Boy, she was met with his panic-filled expression.

"If you're getting bored, we can go down to the beach, and make the biggest sandcastle possible," He had suggested instead. "It's twenty minutes away from our hotel room, I'll drive and I'll pay the gas this time, just _please_ don't tell Robin." He had begged. It could have been because of the way his green eyes shimmered with utmost hope, or maybe that she also secretly still didn't want Robin to know, Raven agreed to Beast Boy's suggestion. Which was a horrible idea, because Raven did not account for the fact that Garfield would be shirtless while on the beach, and that she'd most likely have to be in a swimsuit as well, only realizing when they actually got there and Garfield immediately pulled his shirt over his head next to her and threw it back over the car seat with enthusiasm. He had been wanting to go swimming. Raven brought a plain black bikini and silently chastised herself for not offering a different activity while slathering her arm with sunscreen before joining him to find a nice spot on the beach sand, and spent all that day looking at his forearms and back muscles with sheer admiration, to his cluelessness.

So with these mental images in her head, and the growing positive social interactions between them, these two pieces definitely contributed to her crush, growing it from a tiny curiousity about the shapeshifter to a full-blown crush complete with daydreams about their hypothetical relationship as boyfriend and girlfriend. She wanted to shout her feelings at him, _Oh Azar_ it was so unbearable. So nerve-wracking, horrendous, beautiful, and unbearable.

She had to tell him. Somehow...

How should she go about it?

Raven thought about asking him out on a date. It was simple enough, their hotel room was near popular tourist destinations so it wouldn't be hard to come up with an activity, and Raven wasn't too scared of asking him out. I mean, he is still Beast Boy. She couldn't imagine him completely freaking out, it'd just be like how they've been hanging out on their secret mini vacation. But that is exactly the problem. It'd just be like hanging out, it wouldn't _feel_ like a date. Perhaps maybe she'd give him hints, like becoming more friendlier towards him. Wait, that's stupid. It just wasn't her. she liked Beast boy, but she still can't make a convincing enough fake laugh at his pointless jokes. Plus dropping hints would be way to slow for her.

Or, she could just be upfront and tell him how she feels.

The problem with this is that it's way too scary. Raven always considered herself to be very honest and logical, but confessing her crush is quite frightening. How would he react? He probably doesn't even like her in that way. Well, it didn't matter, it has come to the point where he just _needs_ to know. Her heart thumped at the very attempt to even imagine his reactions! Terrible! _Ugh,_ having a crush is so... _stupid!_

However, it needed to be done.

xxxxx

The two titans traveled to northern Arizona. It was a split-second trip, mostly Beast Boy's idea, because the two finally decided it was time to get back to work, before they take too long of a mini vacation and Robin starts to get suspicious. However, Raven agreed to a quick trip to the Grand Canyon before they officially head back to the Tower.

It was bloody hot, and a very long walk, to which Raven mostly just floated behind Garfield, who seemed to be enjoying the scenery. Raven doubted he even noticed the beads of sweat forming on his forehead because he was smiling so much. It was beautiful, despite her pessimistic ways. She wasn't complaining of having pleasant conversations with Beast Boy while looking at the rocks and trees around her, it was quite peaceful, actually. But she was burdened to carry a secret that was going to burst out of her mouth at any given time.

They both stopped at a shaded spot to take a quick break as they were both getting somewhat peckish. Beast Boy unpacked his food while she looked at the deep canyon below. It looked like something out of a picture, and it seemed her eyes could not make sense of how deep it was. How aesthetically unimaginable.

"Rae, you okay?" Her attention snapped down to the seated shape-shifter. "If you lean any further, I'm gonna have to jump in and fly after you," he joked, biting into a tofu sandwich. Raven blushed as she backed away from the cliff. She didn't want to do anything stupid. Not in front of him.

" _Raven._ " She corrected him. He shrugged in response and looked down to face the canyon.

"It's beautiful isnt it? I cant believe we've never been here before." She sat down next to him. As she reached to pull her own sandwich out of her backpack, she sneakily glanced at him to catch a glimpse of his face, which looked absolutely in awe. His eyes hasn't sparkled like that since they went to Tokyo and he was in front of that Japanese book store or whatever he was geeking out over, and so her heart began to thump once again. She turned uneasily to face away from him as they both took in the view in silence.

Her emoticlones began to fill her head. _Wouldn't it be nice if he looked at you like that?_ Happy and Desire sighed at the fantasy. _Could you imagine his smile?_ Then Doubt took over. _You are going to ruin everything Raven if you tell him. That look he has on his face right now? It's gonna turn into disgust when he looks at you all up in your feelings._ The pounding pulsated throughout her chest, she was rigid and yet so fragile with every breath she took. _Beast Boy is not that mean. He is very kind, and sweet..._ Happy and Desire argued. _TELL HIM. Stop beading around the bush!_ Brave motivated her. She closed her eyes with frustration. _This is pointless. Why do you have to make life hard for yourself. This entire crush is retarded_! She shouted, silencing her feelings. She swallowed and tried to relax. _Stupid nonsense. Not worth the troub-_ Beast Boy shifted slightly and took another bite of his now second sandwich. Raven swore she could feel the heat radiating off of his body. Maybe it was her own nervousness? She was sweating a lot more than him...

 _Do it now._

"I wonder how deep it is. If I threw a rock inside how long would it take to reach the floor?" Raven was not sure if Beast Boy was talking to himself, or initiating another conversation. She remained silent, her lips so firmly pressed together.

 _Say it, please._

He threw a nearby stick as far he could and let his ears perk up to listen as closely as he could, silently counting underneath his breath.

"Three...Four..."

 _Tell him._

She forced her shaky hands to grab the water bottle she provided herself with her quick snack and lifted if to her lips, gulping it down so quickly it hurt her throat. Her backpack rattled with black energy so that it lightly slid from being between the two of them to the other side of Raven. Luckily for her, Beast Boy didn't seem to notice. Beast Boy shook his head and huffed.

"I lost it around twelve seconds." He was still facing the canyon. Raven bit her lip out of frustration. She was internally screaming, having forgotten her calming mantra altogether.

"We should fly around, Just for fun. _Dude_ , this place is absolutely gorgeous."

 _Not as great-looking as you._

"What?" Beast Boy's question alarmed her. Had she accidentally said that aloud? She couldn't remember. His green eyes seem to pierce through her very soul. Staring at her with one eyebrow raised. Both of his ears were still perked up awwiting for her answer. Raven was positive she had the most horrified expression on her face although it felt as if she couldn't feel her face. She sucked in a deep breath to regain a sense of dignity, or _something._

"I said," she began, "I have a crush on you."

She immediately closed her eyes and sighed. Her arms and fingers unclenched themselves. The black energy surrounding her backpack dissipated.

 _Finally_!

He knew and now she could relax.


End file.
